High Courts Weekly Round-Up

ALLAHABAD HCThe Allahabad High Court disposed of a writ petition against BSP president Mayawati filed by BJP leader Neeraj Kumar Saxena, wherein he had alleged that Mayawati openly sought votes to a public at large, amounting to wooing the electorate, based on a religious appeal.BOMBAY HCA division bench of Justices Ranjit More and ShaliniPhansalkar Joshi of the Bombay High Court pulled up the Maharashtra government for delaying the decision regarding grant of compensation to rape, acid attack and child abuse victims under the Manodhairya Scheme retrospectively. The bench is hearing a PIL filed by father of a rape victim.Granting anticipatory bail to an accused, the Bombay High Court recently reiterated the proposition that every breach of promise to marry cannot amount to rape.Applying the principles laid down by the Supreme Court in M/s MadhusudanGordhandas& Co. vsMadhuWoollen Industries Pvt ltd, the division bench of Chief Justice ManjulaChellur and Justice MS Sonak has held that once the debt owed by a debtor company is established as undisputed then the court shall wind up the particular company.The single bench of Justice AM Badar of the Bombay High Court has allowed the application filed by an accused under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act(POCSO) to transfer his case before another judge alleging bias on part of the current designated under the said act.Making drastic observations, Bombay High Court has granted bail to three men accused of murdering Shaikh Mohsin. The single bench of Justice MridulaBhatkar granted bail to the three accused observing – “The fault of the deceased was only that he belonged to another religion. I consider this factor in favour of the applicants/accused. Moreover, the applicants/accused do not have criminal record and it appears that in the name of the religion, they were provoked and have committed the murder.”DELHI HCThe Delhi High Court has refused to quash rape charges against a person, observing that it cannot do so on a mere somersault by the complainant.GUJARAT HCEspousing the cause of equality and empowerment of the differently-abled, the Gujarat High Court has directed the state government to give back a job to a person to which he was initially selected but was later denied placement, owing to his condition of cerebral palsy.KARNATAKA HCThe Karnataka High Court in Bengaluru rejected the bail application of one Zulfikar Ali, who is an accused in the Malleswaram blast case that occurred on April 17, 2013.KERALA HCThe Kerala High Court, in R RavikumarVsThe Sub Inspector Of Police, has struck down an order issued by the Sub Inspector of Police directing the owner of a hotel to close down the hotel after 11 pm. The case delved with the question whether the Kerala Police Act provided for any power to a sub inspector of police to issue such orders that could restrict eateries, hotels from functioning during certain hours of the day or night.The Kerala High Court has dismissed a challenge against the government’s liquor policy, observing that the laws prohibiting alcoholic drinks will not fall foul of the fundamental rights guaranteed to a citizen.The Kerala High Court has held that lapsed seats for engineering course in the merit quota cannot be filled up by the educational institution by admitting students who are not qualified in the entrance test conducted by the Commissioner for Entrance Examinations.The Kerala High Court has ruled that a registered practitioner or an appropriately trained person can practise acupuncture therapy and the same cannot be held to be violation of law.MADRAS HCThe Madurai Bench of Madras High Court has held that State Bar Council cannot summarily dismiss an enrollment application without referring the application for opinion to the Bar Council of India.The Madras High Court has held that although the principles of Mohammedan law do not expressly confer the right of guardianship to women, mothers can act as legal guardians of properties gifted to their minor children and the acceptance of properties by them would be held as legally valid under specific circumstances.Madurai Bench of High Court of Madras, in Thilagavathi v. Deputy Commissioner of Labour and Ors., has upheld an order awarding a part of compensation paid for the death of an industrial worker to the parents of the deceased. ORISSA HC The Orissa High Court in NanditaSethi vs. State of Orissa, has held that a magistrate cannot direct further investigation of the case at the instance of a de facto complainant after taking cognizance of offences on the basis of charge sheet submitted by police.TRIPURA HCThe Tripura High Court has observed that the currency notes are still the backbone of commercial transactions by multitudes in our country, in spite of growing accustomedness to the credit cards/debit cards or cashless system.This article has been made possible because of financial support from Independent and Public-Spirited Media Foundation.

High Courts Weekly Round-Up

Ashok KM

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